


And A Corsair To Boot

by Lets_call_me_Lily



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirates, Art, Gen, Watercolours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-08 07:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 0
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5488955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lets_call_me_Lily/pseuds/Lets_call_me_Lily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Rogers of the Royal Navy and the swashbuckling rogue Stark are fighting for their lives - in the middle of the ocean, there's really nowhere to run to...</p>
            </blockquote>





	And A Corsair To Boot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ssyn3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssyn3/gifts).



> Dear ssyn3, I hope you like it :D  
> Happy holidays!! 
> 
> I got a little caught up doing some research for a backstory of the picture before I started, then realised that as I don't actually write fic, I was being a tad bit silly... however, if you're interested in knowing a bit more about the set up, the (very long) end note should help you out :)

**Author's Note:**

> I chose the pirate AU prompt that ssyn3 so kindly gave me, since I thought it could be really fun to draw, and also because it worked as an artwork. Firstly, I thought of doing something cyber-punk or space pirates, but in the end I decided against it since I was pretty sure that traditional pirates were requested.
> 
> Then I started googling the Golden Age of piracy and the origins of electromagnetism! I wanted to be historically accurate where possible, but also to keep to the basic outlines of Cap and Iron Man's origin stories...
> 
> Which I found a little difficult!
> 
> At first, I thought it might be really awesome to give Tony an advanced type of peg-leg, taking my inspiration from Treasure Planet (I imagined Clint jokingly calling it Tony's baby and asking Tony if he sings it to sleep, and so when Tony makes Mark IV, he calls it the Ankle Biter and adds an electric current and a small cannon, just for laughs. [And so what if occasionally Tony will croon to it as he makes repairs down in his workshop?] ) It would make sense in that he would be updating it constantly, especially as saltwater is a known corrosive, and also in terms of the capture, he could have been shot in the leg, or stabbed by a filthy cutlass, and Yinsen would've had to amputate in order to save Tony from gangrene-related death... However, this would have nothing to do with Tony's heart, which has always been the traditional injury. Thus the interest in electromagnetism - I had to figure out how much scientists had advanced before 1716, the beginning of the last outburst of piracy during the Golden Age. 
> 
> I chose this period because it was induced by the Spanish Succession War, meaning that there had been a lot of fighting and divided loyalties in Europe and its colonies (the Spanish Succession War is considered by historians to be the first 'World' War), and unemployed soldiers turned to piracy after the war all over the world - the Caribbean Sea, the Indian Ocean, the North American Eastern Seaboard and West Africa. The last hurrah of widespread piracy, it created the perfect backdrop for Obadiah's betrayal - why not have him supporting the French in the battle for succession, which would give him motive of wanting to be rid of Tony, a staunch Charles supporter?
> 
> That's right - I also realised that at the time, America was still very much a British colony, thus complicating things further. Steve certainly couldn't take the mantle of Captain America! In the end, I decided that Steve would've been an Irishman who'd fought during Tyrone's Nine Year War (which ended in 1603), whereupon he'd been somehow left in statis only to be found by the Royal British Navy and resuscitated (hence the uniform, but also the uncharacteristic shield) almost 100 years later. His tactical genius remembered by the British, they kept him as their own and gave him a ship.
> 
> Unfortunately, the eras didn't quite match, as the electromagnet was only invented in 1825 by Sturgeon - in 1660 Otto von Guericke invented an early electrostatic generator, and that was it until the mid-18th century, while it was only in 1729 that conductors and insulators (resistors and non-resistors) were starting to be classified. Pacemakers, on the other hand, began developing in the early 20th century. In the end, I didn't draw in anything like an arc reactor, and figured that I could use Tony's weapon-making side to explain things away.
> 
> In the end, I concluded that the Starks made weapons, and Tony had revolutionised the musket by making it lighter, with more stable and accurate firing capacity, through the introduction of helical grooves in the barrel. The smoothbare musket had a flintlock, with an accuracy distance of 30 paces, and a more gyroscopically stabilised projectile motion. It was with this that Tony himself was shot with in the chest, as Obadiah bought off pirates to kill him. As we know, Yinsen helped out with making sure Tony didn't die, only in this case he'd be a captured field-medic. Tony escaped by dint of explosions and mutiny, and sails forth in a sinking ship back towards home... halfway there, with only the crow's nest and a pirate's flag still visible, he's picked up by Lieutenant Rhodes, an old friend who's been searching the ocean for him. Tony, utterly enraged, builds The Iron Lady, and sets forth to destroy the pirates and the leftover Philip supporters with his loyal manservant-turned-first mate Jarvis. Shenanigans ensue, they pick up a disillusioned Steve, and somehow this all culminates in a sea battle.
> 
> That was my working theory - I hope it makes sense! (And if anyone wants to use any part of this concept, please do)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Mining and Misadventures (The Pirates! In Space! Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9798854) by [Woad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woad/pseuds/Woad)




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